Beefsteak Nashville 2024 was extra special when my daughters & I served baklava together. @awayslice

Haven't been on Nostr much lately. TBH, I'm not much of a fan of the experience on existing Android apps, so I just haven't been using it. I'm ok waiting a bit and coming back to see how the apps change and grow. GM ✌️☀️

How do I permanently leave group DMs? I find these all annoying as hell, especially seeing them in my notifications on amethyst.

What a fucking day yesterday was. Wow.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Short Barreled Rifle

I'm not religious. There is no combination of words in the English language that you can use to convince me otherwise. Sometimes, though, I wish there was. To admit anything else would be a lie. Christianity is on the rise amongst bitcoiners, and I sometimes think of my own experiences with religion because of this. I grew up in America with the Greek Orthodox church. I was an alter boy, and I went to Greek school after normal school. We were taught Greek culture, religious topics, language, etc. The church was my social center. More than that, it was an aesthetically pleasing place. The Byzantine iconography. The smells of incense. The feel of the pews. The beautiful hymns chanted in Greek. The taste of the Eucharist. As a youth & young adult, the divine liturgy was an experience for the senses. I wanted to believe. The idea of a greater power watching over us is very powerful. It gives a man purpose. Alas, I could not believe. I do not believe. It's not me. True believers show up every Sunday, but there are also the ones present for the social aspects. It's what they grew up with. They go through the motions, live their lives as decent humans, but are likely too afraid to confront their beliefs. I couldn't respect myself if I did this. I can't be inauthentic to myself and to the true believers in attendance. Being honest with myself meant leaving the church. It was like denouncing the club, removing myself from a social circle that was the foundation for much of my life. It left a space that I've done my best to fill. I think the world would be a better place if everyone lived by the general teachings of Jesus. If we were kind to others. Love your neighbor, forgive people, and all that. This is decent human behavior. I try to live my life this way, but it is not easy. This post isn't a cry for help. Deep down, I'm not trying to be convinced. Much like my journey with the carnivore diet, and diet in general, only my own experiences will convince me. I remain unconvinced. I'm glad some of you are true believers, and I wish you peace and happiness on your spiritual journies. 🧡

How were bitcoiners orange pilled before books and podcasts? The white paper, mostly. I tried reading it in 2011, but found it too technical and boring. Yup.😂 So what worked? A bitcoin-only auction site called Bitmit. A place where I could sell baklava in 2012 with minimal fees. I had a website at the time, but I also had listings on eBay & Etsy for extra exposure. The listing + PayPal fees sucked, so I sold at a markup to make up the difference. BitMit allowed me to sell my baklava at a discount while taking home higher profits. Not bad, but it didn't stop there! I could then flip the bitcoin on LocalBitcoins at a slight markup, earning profit on my profit! Profitception! 🤯 I was an idiot in hindsight, of course. Had I known then what I know now I would have HODLed every sat, but that's not the point. These experiences taught me the true value of Bitcoin, and it had nothing to do with a fiat price. People were willing to pay over spot for something permissionless, with low fee transactions, that entities like PayPal couldn't stop. I never could have gleaned this from the white paper. By mid-2012, I saw that this was something to hold on to. I decided to move off the fiat standard, and on to the Bitcoin standard. That's exactly what I did before the end of the year. And it truly started 13 years ago today. Thanks, Bitmit. ✌️

Happy New Year, frens ✌️

It's Christmas morning, I haven't opened a single gift yet, but I've already received everything I could have ever asked for, and more. Merry Christmas, frens. 🎄🧡

GM pre-5AM risers 🌛✌️

I suspect few people in the world have interacted with more individuals who lost bitcoin than I have. I answered support tickets for a non-custodial web wallet that, at the time, was the most popular in the world. I'm talking about 100,000+ tickets over five years, many from users who lost access to their funds. Not just tiny amounts, mind you. Sometimes hundreds of bitcoin. My inability to help them still weighs on me. We added warnings and info about the importance of backups. It's not that I could have done more. The nature of the old Blockchain(.)info wallet made that impossible. The bottom line is personal responsibility demands extraordinary effort, and not everyone is up for the challenge. Lost password? Sorry, I can't help. Lost seed phrase? Sorry, I can't help. Funds stolen by a phishing site? *Sigh* What troubles me most isn't the sadness I felt from doing this daily for so many years. No, eventually you grow numb to it. That's what truly hurt. I imagine this is a lesser version of what people in the medical field have to do to cope with their jobs - learning to stop caring so much. It takes a toll on your humanity if you live this way for too long. I could have stayed in that job. Stacked more sats. It made sense, financially. I'd have a lot more bitcoin today if I did. Instead, I left, choosing to be with my family and focus on self improvement. Anyone who has worked during the early years of a startup will understand how incredibly burnt out you are once you finally step away. It took me years to push through that. But I still think about those users. The ones who made all the mistakes of the past that you, the bitcoiners of today, would learn from. Almost seven years have passed since I left, and I'm no longer numb to their pain. I feel sadness for them again. And I'm grateful for that. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and take some time to reflect on the things that truly matter in this life. 🧡✌️